Can you get into a routine breast feeding?

[hj1981]

Im finding it hard to get some sort of routine happening with breastfeeding! for some reason when i formula fed DD1 it was easy to get routine feeding times happening! but this time round im breastfeeding and feel im feeding alot! i know she is only little still, but soon will i be able to get a routine? Know the times she will need a feed? or will i always just keep offering her some when ever she gets a bit whingy?! Its prob because breast feeding is so convienient that when ever she gets whingy i just pop her on and off we go!

[~Stoked~]

I have a BF'd 13 month old and we still don't have any kind of routine happening! I'm not saying it can't happen but it never did for us! Although, in saying that, I am not really a person who lives by routine most of the time so it's probably my fault!

[~me~]

Once things settled down, we got into a routine. I am a very routined sort of person, that helped.
It just takes time if that's the way you want to go.
We eventually settled down into a Breakfast, MT, lunch, AT, Dinner and Bedtime.
I think I was also very lucky as DD and DS2 were very easy going babies, so if we were out, they were happy and content to look around or sleep.
I FF fed DS1, I think that helped me in some way work out what worked with timing.

It's whatever works best for you and your little one, sometimes if she was upset while we were out, I would feed her, that didn't happend very often, so I was very lucky.

[*EJ*]

This is my third time bfing and i'm still wondering the same thing. I seem to be demand bfing more than i ever did with the boys. I take no notice of the clock what so ever except for at night when i'm more so checking how much sleep i was able to get. I sometimes wonder the same as you, if what i am doing is just soothing a grumpy bub with a feed but she feeds and seems hungry most times

I'm hoping we fall into something soon where i don't seem to be feeding so often, i did with the boys so i think i will with this one too. I didn't check the age of your little one but if it's early days just go with it for now and if need be you can try and stretch things out when you feel it's time.

[*star*]

Hey hj!

I had a total routine going for BF DD when she was little. Took a bit to get going though. DS is roughly the same age as your DD, and we're not in a routine yet - still pretty much doing what you're doing and demand feeding. It should all settle in the next few weeks to start getting a routine going. I'll be guided by what DS wants though. It seems that he's after extra feeds in the morning and right before bed at this stage.

Maybe see if there are any patterns and that's a start....

Good luck!

[MummaSue]

Hey,

I don't have a routine for DD and she is 9 months old. She has a noise that she makes when she is hungry and that is my cue to feed her.

Does she have a hungry cry or noise? I got the Dunstan baby language DVD from the library and after watching that, we never looked back!

BF is so convenient though, even if she's not hungry but is just whingy I stick her on boobie and 9 times out of 10 that settles her

As for routine, we still don't have one.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I was lucky and we were pretty much 4 hourly from birth except for growth spurts which led to cluster feeds normally around dinner time!

[MrsB26]

Well i'm going to say YES IT IS
I didnt try any sort of routine with ds until he was 4 months. I figured he was still a little baby before then and needed to be fed on demand. It took about a week to establish a routine that worked for us both and it was great as it meant i could leave him with DH and go out by myself and know how long before i had to come home instead of rushing to do everything just in case. Of a night though, i demand fed and comfort fed. It wasnt exactly the same every day and it changed as he started to drop sleeps but i would definately say we had a routine going.

I'm hoping to do the same with dd once she is older but it seems she has beat me to it and established her own routine which is fine by me

[Gigi]

i started off thinking i had to have a routine, the guilt of not having one stressed me out. Then i tried not having a routine, just being guided by my baby - who would cry loudly LAAAAAAAAA when she wanted a feed - later i discovered that Baby Talk dvd, where it tells you that LAAAAAAAAAA means "feed me". my baby didn't do any of the other babytalk sounds, but she knew the most important one ha ha.

at the start, bf-ing is very frequent. every time baby sucks, this is stimulating your milk ducts, so building up your supply. i reckon this is nature's way of making sure it all goes ok.

babies know when they're thirsty
babies know when they've had enough (they start mucking around)

when i thought i was feeding "on demand", i got to a stage, where i started feeling a bit resentful (not this again!)
but then i changed the words, to "feeding by request" and that made me feel happier. I changed my mindset - i KNOW this is going to happen every two hours, so i will plan my life around that, and make sure i have stuff, at arm's reach, that i can do, WHILST i am feeding. I will ask the midwife to teach me how to feed lying down, so i can lie down for some feeds. I am very tired so maybe it's actually a good thing that every two hours, my baby's request, MAKES me stop rushing around, and rest. My baby looks the picture of health, she loves to feed, so my milk is doing wonderful things for her, (that made me feel needed and like i was accomplishing something).

later on, i realised my bub wasn't getting sick as often, or as badly as other bubs her age.
later on, i realised i wasn't using baby panadol very much, because she used the boob as comfort in many pain situations
later on, i realised i didn't have to lug around so much stuff when we went out

i found so many positives, that really outweighed the heaps of bf-ing at the start.

we had a rocky delivery, so i think the hours on the couch, gazing at her drinking, helped us bond - when i thought that would never happen initially.

breastfeeding is SO differnt to FF.
i think it's human nature, to compare, if you've had one kind of experience before.
but it really is a different thing.

[hj1981]

Thanks Heaps everyone!

And MrsB26 - that is the exact reason i want some sort of routine so when i go back to uni and when i do have to leave DD2 with DH i know when she is due a feed and don't have to rush around! Im more than happy to do the same as you and demand and comfort feed during the night but during the day a routine would make life so much easier!

dragoncookie - wow u sure did score there!

MummaSue - your spot on with bfeeding being so convienient! i kinda like that - but i really do need to start working out her cries!

Star - DD2 is the same - with extra snacky feeds during the morning and before bed! so hmmm maybe there is hope?!

Myboys - fingers crossed we both get the routine happening soon! as long as its before i go back to uni i will be happy!

Heather - im definatly a routine person! prob why this is a bit frustrating! but im sure we will get there! im lucky tho that if i do go out DD2 Is also really good and easily distracted already! so hopefully she stays that way

Stoked - LOL as long as ur happy than i guess it dosent matter if you dont have a routine! LOL sometimes i wish i wasnt so routine orientated!